中国人口迁移与留守子女的历史思考

A Historical Thought on Chinese Population Migration and Rear Children

中国历史上,不论是商人、军人、囚犯、官员等,还是普通老百姓,都可能在其流动的过程中产生大规模的留守子女现象,特别是在走西口、闯关东、下南洋去海外以及农村人口进城的过程中,留守子女现象都非常突出。不能把留守子女问题仅仅归因于“三农”问题的副产品,而需要用历史的眼光来看待这一问题。

It is a historical phenomenon that, in the migration process of Chinese people, including merchants, soldiers, prisoners or even government officials, large scale of rear children were left at home. During the historical events in which people once moved to the west, to the north-east of China, abroad to southern Asia, or during the modem movement of agricultural population from rural to urban areas, the phenomena of rear children became prominent. Due to this cause, it will be unfair to come to the conclusion that the rear children problem is only the by-product of the problem of agriculture, rural areas and peasants. Instead, historical considerations need to be taken to observe the issue.